Anonymous
Post 03/16/2017 16:32     Subject: Thoughts on Scripps College - part of the Claremont 5
I'm a Scripps graduate. The four years I spent there were the best of my life. I have friends from all 5 colleges. My education was amazing. Everything about it was amazing and I was hesitant about the women only aspect but that part was great too--and I too had leadership roles I wouldn't have had/taken on at bigger colleges.
Anonymous
Post 03/16/2017 16:17     Subject: Thoughts on Scripps College - part of the Claremont 5
I'm a very recent graduate of Pomona who took courses at Scripps. The Claremont Colleges are brought up together, and benefit from each other, but there are noticeable differences in terms of institutional funding and educational quality between them. Pomona has 3-4 times the endowment per student of Scripps, and it shows; a lot of Scripps buildings are beautiful but deteriorating on the inside, while Pomona is constantly being renovated. Of the five colleges, Scripps is the least diverse in students of color; 58.5% of Scripps first years are white compared to 34% of Mudd students and 36% of Pomona students. I have to say I was disappointed by Scripps academically compared to Pomona, CMC, and Mudd; the courses were less rigorous, the professors felt less knowledgeable, and the students seemed less engaged than those at the other colleges (and these were from taking the so-called highlight professors at Scripps, not just some average or mediocre professor). This isn't just my sentiment; Pomona distributed a survey among students to assess rigor, and only 12% of students agreed that their courses at the other Claremont Colleges were as rigorous or harder than that at Pomona. Scripps is the most liberal and PC of the 5 colleges, and many of their students are hyper-liberal to the point of removing speakers or writing hate speech about conservatives. They were actually called the most racist college in America. Yes, you'll see this at the other colleges too, but not nearly to the same extent. I wouldn't be comfortable sending my child to Scripps if it continues to be the same as it is now.
Anonymous
Post 03/16/2017 14:37     Subject: Re:Thoughts on Scripps College - part of the Claremont 5
Scripts is a great school. Yes, all women but since it is a part of the Claremont colleges, it doesn't fell all- women.
Anonymous
Post 03/16/2017 12:40     Subject: Thoughts on Scripps College - part of the Claremont 5
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Scripps is beautiful but does get the reputation of being a lesser institution because it is all-women. I got into both Pomona and Scripps. I would definitely go with Pomona and take other arts or dance courses that interested me at scripps. Scripps is also extremely liberal as most all-women colleges are so if your child isn't ready for that don't go. A relative went to Scripps and was very uncomfortable by the lesbian scene in the dorms


One really beneficial aspect of going to college can be the experience of feeling uncomfortable about your preconceptions and prejudices.



True, but when your roommate is having sex four feet away from you, night after night, with either a man or a woman, it can be very uncomfortable.


Sure -- but that has nothing to do with either politics or sexual orientation. And, unless you're talking about how the school handled the situation, this is an anecdote that doesn't tell us very much about Scripps. I mean, you do know that college students everywhere have sex, right? And that your relative is neither the first nor the last student to have to muster the fortitude to tell his/her roommate to stop being an inconsiderate jerk?
Anonymous
Post 03/16/2017 11:42     Subject: Re:Thoughts on Scripps College - part of the Claremont 5
I graduated from Scripps back in the early 90s. The four years I spent there were some of the best years of my life. I now look back at my time there and realize we just took the beauty of Scripps, the comraderie of the students, the gorgeous weather, the challenging classes but laid-back atmosphere, the social scene including music festivals and year round themed bbq's- for granted. It was a unique experience and when you add in the other Claremont colleges, I believe it is an experience that cannot be replicated anywhere else.

Back in my time, the career counseling was not that strong but frankly we also graduated when jobs were at an all time low so maybe there is not much they could have done. I ended up going to graduate school in the East Coast - including law school - so all has turned out well for me. My daughter is applying to colleges next year and we'll likely go out to Claremont this spring to revisit Scripps and tour the other Claremont colleges. I would be thrilled if my daughter ended up at any of the 4 Claremont colleges she will apply to (I exclude Harvey Mudd because she is not interested in STEM). While there are no guarantees in life, I can say with a fair degree of certainty that it's hard to be unhappy at Scripps or any of the other Claremont Colleges.
Anonymous
Post 03/16/2017 11:34     Subject: Thoughts on Scripps College - part of the Claremont 5
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Scripps is beautiful but does get the reputation of being a lesser institution because it is all-women. I got into both Pomona and Scripps. I would definitely go with Pomona and take other arts or dance courses that interested me at scripps. Scripps is also extremely liberal as most all-women colleges are so if your child isn't ready for that don't go. A relative went to Scripps and was very uncomfortable by the lesbian scene in the dorms


One really beneficial aspect of going to college can be the experience of feeling uncomfortable about your preconceptions and prejudices.



True, but when your roommate is having sex four feet away from you, night after night, with either a man or a woman, it can be very uncomfortable.
Anonymous
Post 03/16/2017 10:15     Subject: Thoughts on Scripps College - part of the Claremont 5
Anonymous wrote:Scripps is beautiful but does get the reputation of being a lesser institution because it is all-women. I got into both Pomona and Scripps. I would definitely go with Pomona and take other arts or dance courses that interested me at scripps. Scripps is also extremely liberal as most all-women colleges are so if your child isn't ready for that don't go. A relative went to Scripps and was very uncomfortable by the lesbian scene in the dorms


One really beneficial aspect of going to college can be the experience of feeling uncomfortable about your preconceptions and prejudices.
Anonymous
Post 03/16/2017 03:19     Subject: Thoughts on Scripps College - part of the Claremont 5
Scripps is beautiful but does get the reputation of being a lesser institution because it is all-women. I got into both Pomona and Scripps. I would definitely go with Pomona and take other arts or dance courses that interested me at scripps. Scripps is also extremely liberal as most all-women colleges are so if your child isn't ready for that don't go. A relative went to Scripps and was very uncomfortable by the lesbian scene in the dorms
Anonymous
Post 03/15/2017 23:43     Subject: Thoughts on Scripps College - part of the Claremont 5
Scripps is amazing!!! Best years of my life!!
Anonymous
Post 01/07/2017 13:59     Subject: Thoughts on Scripps College - part of the Claremont 5
Sounds great. - Barnard grad
Anonymous
Post 01/07/2017 12:18     Subject: Thoughts on Scripps College - part of the Claremont 5
Anonymous wrote:When I went to Pomona, I cross registered & took classes at Scripps & Pitzer. Scripps at the time had a great art program -- several of my friends were art majors there.

re "amazing" community: the Claremont colleges have a SLAC feel that is very supportive. The advantage of the 5-college campus structure, as some have already pointed out, is that one can have strong relationships with & be well known by professors AND have access to the other campuses (kids, profs, classes, jobs). Each campus certainly has a diff flavor which is interesting/fun. The CC had a wonderful music scene at the time I attended -- bands would play at an all-day music festival on the Pitzer campus, and all of the Pomona fraternities (there were coed ones and all-male ones) had parties which hosted bands. My profs were smart, engaging, and seemed quite interested in teaching (rather than their research or publishing which could be the case, I suppose, at a larger univ). I lived off-campus for a few years, and although I didn't live in one of them, there were 'themed' houses some of my friends lived in focused on shared interests (Veggie House, International House etc.). Pomona was small enough that one could really assume leadership roles easily (I served on the student senate & helped organize a conference on global warming; was a writer for a feminist newspaper; had a work-study job I enjoyed that took me into LA to tutor kids). Social groups were quite fluid and people seemed really comfortable interacting with others quite different from themselves. The extent to which I have remained close to friends from college seems (anecdotally) to be stronger than other ppl I know, even those who went to SLAC -- except for my cousin who went to Carleton & also has a quite tight knit group she remains in touch with.

I liked Pomona very much & would send my children there -- largely because the quality of the profs was high -- but it had terrible career counseling. Maybe things are better now.


Thank you for this detailed and thoughtful response. I'd love to hear from Scripps and Pitzer grads who could respond in this same vein.